Most government RFPs aren’t vague because teams are careless — they’re vague because people are trying to be “fair.” Broad language feels safe. In reality, it’s exactly what gets agencies sued, protested, and stalled for years. In this episode of Untangled, we break down why subjective RFP language turns procurement into a beauty contest — and how vendors use that ambiguity to file protests that agencies can’t defend. We walk through a real-world permitting system case where a city lost two y...
All content for Untangled is the property of Abhijit Verekar and is served directly from their servers
with no modification, redirects, or rehosting. The podcast is not affiliated with or endorsed by Podjoint in any way.
Most government RFPs aren’t vague because teams are careless — they’re vague because people are trying to be “fair.” Broad language feels safe. In reality, it’s exactly what gets agencies sued, protested, and stalled for years. In this episode of Untangled, we break down why subjective RFP language turns procurement into a beauty contest — and how vendors use that ambiguity to file protests that agencies can’t defend. We walk through a real-world permitting system case where a city lost two y...
Vaporware Traps: Why Government Keeps Falling for Software Demos
Untangled
11 minutes
2 weeks ago
Vaporware Traps: Why Government Keeps Falling for Software Demos
Software demos are built to sell you a story — not to show you what a product can actually do. And in government, that story can cost millions. Vendors walk in with polished screens, AI “prototypes,” and roadmap features presented as if they’re ready to deploy. But once the contract is signed, the reality looks very different. In this episode, we untangle the truth behind vaporware: why governments trust demos too much, how “coming soon” features get used to win deals, and the red flags that ...
Untangled
Most government RFPs aren’t vague because teams are careless — they’re vague because people are trying to be “fair.” Broad language feels safe. In reality, it’s exactly what gets agencies sued, protested, and stalled for years. In this episode of Untangled, we break down why subjective RFP language turns procurement into a beauty contest — and how vendors use that ambiguity to file protests that agencies can’t defend. We walk through a real-world permitting system case where a city lost two y...
